By JIM BROWITT of the Tribune, Sunday, March 25

L-C pounds Corban twice


3-25-06

If puffing up the stat sheet was the intent, the Warriors clearly accomplished their goal this weekend.

It's not, of course. Strange as it may sound for a team that ran its record to 22-2, Lewis-Clark State is still piecing things together, trying to determine what personnel and which combinations work best. The idea is to be fully mobilized by late May, when the NAIA World Series gets under way.

With that in mind, a few enlightening developments came out of L-C's three-game Region I series with Corban at Harris Field.

Bloated offensive numbers were merely an entertaining byproduct.
(Ed Cheff congratulates Beau Mills after his ninth homerun of the year)  

The top-ranked Warriors bludgeoned their visitors from Salem, Ore., twice on Saturday afternoon, winning 12-2 and 10-1 in seven innings. That gave them a 34-5 weekend advantage over Corban, the sum of a .361 hitting clip and a 1.44 earned run average.

But again, that's not really the point.

"There are some things we need to figure out," L-C coach Ed Cheff said. "We've got a pretty good idea what we're going to do, but we've still got some guys we need to look over and decide how we're going to use them."

While Cheff didn't necessarily draw any conclusions against Corban, which slips to 9-15-1, several circumstances piqued his interest.

He was particularly enthused by Brad Schwarzenbach, L-C's third pitcher in Saturday's second game. The junior right-hander, one of the Warriors' harder throwers, yielded a lone single in his three innings of final relief and struck out seven. Just three of the 30 pitches he delivered failed to find the strike zone.

"That was the best pitching we had all weekend," Cheff said of Schwarzenbach, who was awarded the save. "We've changed his delivery, his arm angle, and it's made a big difference. He can get people out."

Cheff was encouraged, to a more moderate degree, by the performance of Game 2 starter Mike Miller. In just his third appearance since finishing elbow rehabilitation, the senior right-hander got the victory for a predetermined three-inning stint. Miller gave up three hits -- Corban's first two batters both singled, and one later scored on an RBI groundout -- and a walk while striking out one.

Jared Joaquin (3-1) was likewise efficient in Saturday's opener, surrendering a run and two hits over a four-inning start, walking three and striking out six.

Zach Evangelho further solidified his spot in the lineup, primarily as the Warriors' second baseman. He went 4-for-7 Saturday, driving in six runs (four in the opener) while scoring three times.

And Brent Wyatt continued to recover from his early-season slump, going 2-for-3 in the nightcap and scoring twice to raise his batting average to .275.

"A lot of guys got involved today," Cheff said. "It's good to see us spread it around a bit."

But the Warriors' offensive stalwarts did their part as well. Beau Mills enjoyed another stellar afternoon, picking up seven RBI, five in the opener when he belted his ninth home run. The junior transfer likely jolted his 10th as well, but a first-inning drive which appeared to ricochet off the elevated tier of advertisements in left field was ruled a double.

Mills went 9-for-13 in the series with 11 RBI and five runs scored.

Jessie Mier was 3-for-4 with three RBI in the series finale, making him 5-for-9 with four RBI on Saturday.

Conspicuously absent from the Warriors' Saturday barrage was their catalyst, leadoff hitter Mark Thompson. The senior shortstop/center fielder was plunked in the back by a pitch in the second inning of the opener and, after suffering muscle spasms, was pulled from the game in the fourth. He sat out the remainder of the day, although the injury is thought to be minor.

FIRST GAME

CORBAN LEWIS-CLARK ST.

ab r h bi ab r h bi

McGraw cf 4 0 2 0 Thmpsn cf 0 1 0 0

Warner rf 4 0 1 0 Wyatt cf 0 1 0 0

Kilcup ph 1 0 1 1 Briggs lf 1 2 0 0

Heil ss 3 0 1 0 Evnglho 2b 4 2 2 4

Trammell ph 1 0 0 0 Mills 3b 5 2 4 5

Frantz 1b 3 0 1 1 Mier dh 5 0 2 1

Timmermn lf 4 0 1 0 Greene 1b 4 0 0 0

Spicer 2b 4 0 0 0 Eppersn rf 5 0 0 0

Johnson 3b 3 0 0 0 Ecker ss 2 2 0 0

James ph 1 0 1 0 Knutz c 3 0 1 0

Myers dh 3 0 0 0 Simmns ph 1 1 0 0

Flux ph 1 1 1 0 Georgius c 1 0 1 1

Gausepohl c 2 0 1 0 Melton ss 2 0 1 0

Taylor cr 0 1 0 0 Martin cf 2 1 1 0

Meier ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 35 2 10 2 Totals 35 12 12 11

Corban 001 000 001-- 2 10 2

Lewis-Clark State 200 502 12x--12 12 1

Corban ip h r er bb so

Braun (L, 1-2) 6 9 9 9 4 2

Wolters 1 1 1 1 1 1

Fry 1 2 2 1 0 0

Lewis-Clark State ip h r er bb so

Joaquin (W, 3-1) 4 2 1 1 3 6

Allen 1 2 0 0 0 1

Guntz 1 0 0 0 0 1

Bumgarner 1 1 0 0 0 2

Bird 2 5 1 0 0 0

SECOND GAME

CORBAN LEWIS-CLARK ST.

ab r h bi ab r h bi

McGraw cf 3 1 1 0 Wyatt ss 3 2 2 0

Heil ss 3 0 1 0 Melton ss 0 1 0 0

Frantz dh 3 0 0 0 Evnglho dh 3 1 2 2

Spicer 2b 3 0 0 1 Mills 3b 4 2 2 2

Timmermn 1b 3 0 0 1 Mier c 4 0 3 3

Warner rf 3 0 0 0 Simmns cr 0 1 0 0

Johnson 3b 2 0 0 0 Georgius c 0 0 0 0

Frasier ph 1 0 0 0 Greene 1b 2 1 0 0

Flux lf 2 0 1 0 Lester 1b 0 0 0 0

Myers ph 1 0 0 0 Martin cf 3 0 1 2

Gausepohl c 1 0 0 0 Roehl rf 2 1 0 0

Taylor cr 0 0 0 0 Andrsn 2b 2 1 0 1

James ph 1 0 0 0 Tajiri lf 4 0 0 0

Totals 26 1 5 1 Totals 27 10 10 10

Corban 100 000 0-- 1 5 1

Lewis-Clark State 420 040 x--10 10 1

Corban ip h r er bb so

Emery (L, 2-4) 4 8 6 6 4 1

Clayton 0 0 1 0 0 0

Clifford 1 2 3 3 2 1

Fitchett 1 0 0 0 0 0

Lewis-Clark State ip h r er bb so

Miller (W, 1-0) 3 3 1 1 1 1

Burns 1 1 0 0 0 0

Schwarzenbach (S, 1) 3 1 0 0 0 7

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Browitt may be contacted at jbrowitt@lmtribune.com